Coach Andrea

Coach Andrea’s Intro

December is filled with holiday parties. Be strategic this year.  In addition to spending time with colleagues in a relaxed atmosphere, use this time to connect with people who could be mentors for you.  Angie Morgan and Courtney Lynch provide suggestions on how to find a mentor and then capitalize on the relationship.

Quote of the Week

“You can overcome any obstacles by asking the right questions of the right people at the right time, then act on that advice with passion.”

Who is Your Mentor?

By Angie Morgan and Courtney Lynch

If you don’t have one, consider finding one … and soon.  It is critical to your professional development to have someone who can offer you guidance, insight and perspective.  It’s even great when you can hear their mistakes and learn from them (before you make them yourself).  It’s also wonderful to have a mentor who can answer the question, “if you were me in this situation, what would you do?”

It’s easy to buy into the idea that a mentor is a valuable relationship.  Finding them, however, can be a tricky thing.  And, after identifying them, asking them to mentor you can seem awkward.  So, what do you do?

• First, scan your horizon and identify the people you admire and respect.  If none are coming to mind, expand your horizon: perhaps it is someone who you work with in a community organization or maybe even a professor you had “way back when.”
• Next, understand what you hope to get out of the relationship.  Your goal can be as simple as “I look to learn from their experiences.”
• Then, reach out to them.  You don’t have to get down on one knee and ask them to be your mentor – in fact, the word mentor might not even be brought up in any of your discussions.  Ask them for 30 minutes – 1 hour of their time.  Share that they are someone you respect and you could value learning from their experiences.

When you meet with your mentor, keep these things in mind:

• Listen more than you talk.  You are there to learn from them.  Invest your time in getting to know them as people.  (For your first few meetings, come very prepared with questions!)
• If they recommend a book or a reading, or even suggest an idea that you explore, be sure to follow up on their guidance.  You are there to learn from them – if they have ideas, chase after them.

A “thank you” card is a great follow up from your first meeting.  Not only is it a nice touch, it is a great sign of respect.

This article was provided courtesy of Lead Star – a premiere leadership development firm. You can learn more about leadership by visiting their website at www.leadstar.us

Coaching Call To Action

If you are new to the whole idea of mentoring, check out the HBR Guide to Getting the Mentoring You Need.

If mentoring is not new to you, take some time to consider what issues you are facing that could benefit from the wisdom of a mentor.  Then be intentional about your holiday party connections.

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Coach Andrea’s Intro

Here in the U.S. next week is Thanksgiving. This week’s Tip by Loren Ekroth provides suggestions for having meaningful conversations during this holiday.

A very Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Thank you for sharing your ideas, thoughts, feedback, challenges and successes with me. I am honored to be included in your life.  

There will be no Coaching Tip of the Week on November 23, 2012 due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Enjoy this time of thanks and gratitude. Our next Tip will be issued on November 30, 2012.

Quote of the Week

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

4 Thanksgiving Conversations

By Loren Ekroth

When you get together as family and friends for Thanksgiving, you are so busy that you may not make room for talk. Hustle and bustle in the kitchen can be exciting but hardly allows for deeper talk.

Here are 4 conversations to consider having this Thanksgiving:

1.  Make time for a walk with an elder for a slower, less hectic quality talk.  Or draw aside an elder, perhaps an aunt or uncle, for a rich conversation.  Ask them about most memorable Thanksgivings of times past.  Ask them about their lives.  Show real interest.

2. Phone someone you’ve needed to thank for their friendship and support.  A teacher?  A pastor?  A coach?  An old friend?  Perhaps in a quieter time during Thanksgiving week you’ll think of various persons who have known you and helped you.

My old friend Professor Sheron Dailey sent me this quotation:

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.”  (Anonymous)

Take time to contact such an old friend and thank that person.

3. Circle the family for story-sharing.  Set aside an hour that allows your family or friends to share stories of their lives. You can record these if you wish and send the CDs or DVDs to those who couldn’t attend your gathering.

Or, to set the tone for the gathering, bring your guests together and with one person acting as a scribe, ask everyone to mention what they’re thankful for this year.  Use a flip-chart or a white board to list their items. You may get hundreds of gratitude items in a half-hour.

Note: I have created a low-cost “Better Family Conversation Kit” available on my Conversation Products page at www.conversationmatters.com. It’s downloadable, and it’s rich in ideas.

4. Record your elders for posterity.  With an audio recorder or a camcorder, you can easily record your elders one at a time in the manner perfected by Storycorps.org. You can find many intriguing questions at the Storycorps site. Then, for example, you can find a quiet, private place to turn on the recording equipment and ask questions that draw out many interesting stories.

I’ve often had people tell me regrets like this: “I wish I’d asked my grandfather about his experience emigrating to the U.S. from Latvia. Now he’s gone, and I’ll never know.” You can avoid those regrets by recording these interviews at your family gatherings.

Best wishes to you all for a warm and grateful Thanksgiving!

From “Better Conversations” newsletter by Loren Ekroth.  Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2012. All Rights reserved. Dr.  Ekroth is creator of information products to improve conversation, such as “Small Talk Success Tips” and a free newsletter at www.ConversationMatters.com.

Coaching Call To Action

Remember my 91 year old mother I spoke of in Don’t be a Hero! Why It’s All Right To Ask For Help?  One of the suggestions that came from my family was to record her telling stories so we have these memories in her voice.  What conversations will you have this Thanksgiving to make it the most memorable one you’ve ever had?

What’s New?

Thursday, November 29, 2012 – 9 am to noon  EST
Pounce on a Project IV

You have 1.5 more months to complete the goals you created for 2012. What project would you like to get on top of and accomplish this month that will help you hit those goals? Come to Pounce on a Project IV – - 2012.

Join me on Thursday, November 29th, from 9:00 a.m. to noon Eastern. We will join as a group by phone and declare what you want to accomplish: marketing calls to hit your numbers, adding a shopping cart to your website, or cleaning your office so you can find the goals you created in January.

During the morning, the group will gather by phone a few times to check progress and get any support needed to finish with a bang. At noon, the group will celebrate their accomplishments. Who says projects have to be boring and tedious? Bring your lightness and fun and join us for energy and focus.

To sign up or learn more, call or e-mail me by noon on Wednesday, November 28th. Feel free to share this with friends and co-workers, the more the merrier. (Cost of the program is only the cost of long distance phone calls.)

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Coach Andrea’s Intro

What would happen in our political campaigns if candidates lead with heartfelt salutations?  Would it bring unity?  This week’s Tip by Stephen Lundin and Bob Nelson shares the origins of this idea from the Ubuntu.

Quote of the Week

“When we seek for connection, we restore the world to wholeness. Our seemingly separate lives become meaningful as we discover how truly necessary we are to each other.”

A Durban Morning: Explaining the Ubuntu Philosophy

By Stephen C. Lundin and Bob Nelson

The sun is low on the horizon on a lush and brilliant South African morning.  The hills in the distance shimmer with a hundred shades of green.  On a dirt footpath paralleling a dusty rural road outside of Durban, two men approach each other from opposite directions.  Their history could be the history of men and women meeting on dusty roads anywhere in the world.  Each man brings a tribal heritage or past that includes at least one violent chapter.  Today, as they near the point of intersection, each is aware of the past difficulties between their tribes, and there is an instant of anxiety.  The moment passes quickly, replaced by something much larger.

As the men pause for a moment of greeting, the harsh history of the conflict between their clans and the more recent and equally harsh shared memories of apartheid become simply background for their wide smiles and heartfelt salutations.

“Sawa bona,” says the first – “I see you.”

“Sikhona,” replies the second – “I am here.” And with this simple exchange they bring each other into existence, for it is their belief that a person is a person only through human connection, through recognition of one another.

In this magic moment, one member of the human race has acknowledged another, and an ancient African philosophy that is stronger than past conflicts and more powerful than the pain of apartheid: the unifying spirit of Ubuntu.

From:  Lundin, S.C. & Nelson, B. (2010).  Ubuntu!: an inspiring story about an african tradition of teamwork and collaboration.  New York: Broadway Books.

Reprinted with permission from the OSU Leadership Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, (614) 292-3114, http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu/

Coaching Call To Action

How will you truly “acknowledge” those you meet this week?  For me – pause, look in their eyes, pause.  My intention is that I see each person and they feel seen.

What’s New?

Thursday, September 20, 2012 – 9 am to noon EDT
Pounce on a Project II

Welcome back from the summer break! I hope you all took some time to recharge. What project would you like to get on top of and accomplish this month? Come to Pounce on a Project II – - 2012.

Join me on Thursday, September 20th, from 9:00 a.m. to noon Eastern. We will join as a group by phone and declare what you want to accomplish: preparing a marketing plan for Q4, starting the talk you have to give in two weeks, getting your website finished, or getting rid of the piles of completed projects that grew over the summer.

During the morning, the group will gather by phone a few times to check progress and get any support needed to finish with a bang. At noon, the group will celebrate their accomplishments. Who says projects have to be boring and tedious? Bring your lightness and fun and join us for the energization.

To sign up or learn more, call or e-mail me by noon on Wednesday, September 19th. Feel free to share this with friends and co-workers, the more the merrier. (Cost of the program is only the cost of long distance phone calls.)

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Coach Andrea’s Intro

My Dad, a great lover of nature, would have turned 92 next week. As I reflected, it started me thinking about how we can apply what we observe in nature to our businesses.

Quote of the Week

“Everything is connected… no one thing can change by itself.”

~ Paul Hawken

6 Ways your Business Is Like an Ecosystem

By Andrea Novakowski

Earlier this month, we talked about how weeding your garden can be a metaphor for removing the clutter from your business and your life, allowing what’s truly important to thrive. But there’s even more nature can teach us about how to grow a business. Let’s take a look at some ways our work environment is like the natural environment.

• In nature, everything goes in cycles. There are times for peak productivity and times for dormancy. When is the best time for you to increase activity in your business? When is it time to take a deep breath and regroup? Consider your daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual cycles.
• Compost happens. If you’re always rushing to the next big thing, you miss the opportunity to let your plans mellow and mature. Sometimes ideas need to sit, process, and grow richer before they’re added to the mix. There’s often value in adding a project, article, or agreement that’s been “composting” to a current endeavor.
• Sometimes you need to compete, but other times it’s better to cooperate. Right now, in the springtime, birds are extremely territorial: staking out their space, chasing away others of their species, protecting their nests. But in the fall, they rejoin their flocks and migrate together. It’s safer that way. When do you need to stand up for yourself at work? When does it make more sense to be part of the flock?
• Relationships can be mutually beneficial. It’s called symbiosis, and there are countless examples in nature. When a bumblebee gathers nectar from flowers, it spreads pollen and enables the plants to reproduce. Can you find opportunities for symbiotic relationships at work? For instance, if you need a mentor to grow to the next level, think about how to make the arrangement worthwhile to that person as well. Perhaps you can offer to help with a project or provide tech support.
• The right fertilizer makes all the difference. Nothing grows without nutrients, and that goes for your business, too. Consider what key nutrients you may be missing at work. Maybe it’s a clear projection of the course you need to take, or a vision of the future you can share with your team. How can you make this year’s performance reviews more nutritious for your staff?
• We’re all interconnected. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the natural world, but as business owners, we can’t go it alone, either. We all depend on others, whether it’s our accountants or our attorneys or our customers. Are you nurturing your connections? Is there someone missing from your circle? Could networking help increase your interconnectedness?

These 6 observations about business are merely a beginning.  I know there are more ideas to be tapped.  As I head into the Memorial Day holiday weekend here in New England, I’m going to reflect some more and keep noticing what nature has to show me.

Coaching Call To Action

There is so much nature can teach us about life and business.  Spend some time in nature this week and see what captures your eye.  How could you apply what you see to your business?

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Coach Andrea’s Intro

If you are thinking of starting a business partnership with another individual, this week’s Tip is for you. In addition to analyzing the viability of the business idea, it’s key that you address how the two of you will work together.

Quote of the Week

“Successful people in this world are those who get up and look for circumstances they want. If they can’t find them, they make them.”

~ George Bernard Shaw

How to Have a Successful Business Partnership

By Andrea Novakowski

You and your friend have a great idea for a business. Your business plan is already half done. You can’t wait to get started: what could be better than working with a friend every day?

To launch a successful business with another person, you need more than a business plan. You have to plan your approach to working together, too.

Here are some questions to ask yourselves before you rush headlong into business with your friend – or with anyone else, for that matter!

1. Why is a partnership right for this business? Are you getting into business together for the right reasons or the wrong ones? A right reason might be that you’re compatible and have the same vision for the business. A wrong reason might be your fear that you can’t do it alone.
2. Do you share the same goals, objectives and values? Make sure the two of you are in complete alignment. Be open and clear and have lots of honest discussions. This is your chance to find out how well you two communicate.
3. What has your past experience with partners been like? Think about the kinds of people you work best with. Everyone has a different style. Some people are workaholics and others are more laid back. Some people love a good fight, while others appreciate calm and peacefulness. Are you and the other person a good fit? If not, don’t force it.
4. What are the strengths and positive qualities each of you bring to the partnership?
5. Who will assume which roles and responsibilities? Who will do sales, manage employees, handle the accounting? Is this a fair division of labor? It may help to list each person’s preferred tasks (independent of each other). Identify where there will be sole control and where there is overlap. Ask yourselves what’s missing and still needed to run the organization.
6. When and how will you communicate with each other? Will you meet daily? Weekly? How will decisions be made if you disagree?
7. How will you share start-up costs, expenses, profit? How much income do each of you need?
8. What are your short-term goals? What do you each think the company will look like in three years when it’s humming along?
9. What are your long-term goals? Envision the conclusion and timing of the end of your business. Are you looking to make it a lifestyle business with a finite income goal, or do you want to be the next Facebook? What is your exit strategy?
10. Are both of you 100% committed to the partnership?

Even if you have known a person for years, a business partnership is very different than a friendship. Try collaborating on a few projects to get a feel for how you work together. A great book I often recommend to my clients is Partnership: Small Business Start-Up Kit by Daniel Sitarz. This book provides a pre-partnership worksheet, a partnership agreement, and other forms you’ll need to start a business together.

Coaching Call To Action

Thinking about a partnership?  Do you really know the other person?  What will you do this week to increase your knowledge of the other person and move closer to making the right decision for you?

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Coach Andrea’s Intro

Whether you own your own company, manage others or are an individual contributor, you have a “boss.” Your boss may be your board of directors, your clients, and/or your manager.  No matter which category applies to you, this week’s Tip provides a great checklist for making your boss love you!

Quote of the Week

“Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient.”

~ Eugene S. Wilson

Seven Ways to Make Sure Your Boss Thinks You’re Doing a Great Job

By Penelope Trunk

1. Know your boss’s priorities. If your boss is a numbers person, quantify all your results.  If your boss is a customer-is-first kind of guy, frame all your results in terms of benefits to the customer.
2. Say no. Say yes to things that matter most to your boss.  Say no to most everything else, and your boss will appreciate that you are focused on her needs.
3. Communicate the way your boss does. If your boss likes e-mail, use it.  If your boss prefers voice mail, phone in your updates.  Convey information to your boss in the way she likes so that she’s more likely to retain it.
4. Toot your own horn. Each time you do something that impacts the company let your boss know.  Whatever the mechanism, you need to let your boss know each time you achieve something that matters to her.
5. Lunch with your boss. If all things are equal, your boss will promote the person she likes the best.  So go out to lunch and talk about what interests her.
6. Seek new responsibilities. Find important holes in your department before your boss notices them.  Take responsibility for filling those holes and your boss will appreciate your foresight, but also your ability to do more than your job.
7. Be curious. Remember to take time to read and listen.  Then ask questions when they are not expected; you will make yourself more interesting to be around, and you will elicit fresh ideas from everyone around you.  Your boss will feel like having you on the team improves everyone’s work – even his own – and, after all, that is your primary job in managing up (Trunk, 2007, p. 145-147).

From: Trunk, P. (2007). Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success.  New York:  Warner Business Books.

Reprinted with permission from the OSU Leadership Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, (614) 292-3114, http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu

Coaching Call To Action

One of my readers responded to last week’s Tip, Success is Supposed to Be Fun and Rewarding, sharing that she had not been aligned with her boss’s priorities and goals and was not feeling the love.  If you are in a similar situation or want to ensure you don’t get there, take time this week to put two to three of these ideas into action.

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Coach Andrea’s Intro

One of my roles as a coach is to help simplify business and life for my clients. While Boston is known as a center for learning and higher education, I find that bringing easy, straightforward tools to my engagements is most beneficial. In this week’s Tip, I share one of my coach’s tools, WIMI.

Quote of the Week

When you determined what you want, you have made the most important decision of your life. You have to know what you want in order to attain it.

~ Douglas Lurtan

WIMI – “What Is Most Important?”

By Natalie Manor

These four letters and what they represent can be life changing for you and those that you communicate with. The idea that we can communicate easily with anyone by finding out what is most important (WIMI) to them is dramatic for the following reasons. Rarely are you asked, nor do you ask anyone, what is most important to them. When asking WIMI, you can get to the core of any issue, project, meeting, or situation. By asking a person what is most important to them, you link directly into what they value. When you find out what someone values, you can develop a rapport that produces immediate results.

Natalie R. Manor, CEO is an author, business consultant, speaker and executive coach. Her company, Natalie Manor & Associates, is the ultimate resource for business leaders, executives, owners and managers who want to master their life and their business by Getting Clear, Getting Confident and Being Effective faster than ever before. You can register for her free bi-weekly articles at: http://www.nataliemanor.com/

Coaching Call To Action

Try this communication tool and let me know what your results are. I’m always interested in how you create your successes.

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Coach Andrea’s Intro

How can you build trust in a relationship?  Listen. This week, Loren Ekroth shares two ideas on how to be a better listener.  The first is about self-awareness and the second requires changing a behavior.  They are both great reminders!

I want to thank all of you for your emails, cards and calls in response to last week’s Tip about my father’s passing.  Your words of acknowledgement of my dad and sympathy to me provided great comfort.  Thank you.

Quote of the Week

” Really listening and suspending one’s own judgment is necessary in order to understand other people on their own terms… This is a process that requires trust and builds trust.”

~  Mary Field Belenky

Listen and Learn

By Loren Ekroth, Ph.D.

“Listening:  The Forgotten Skill” is not only a book title (1995).  It’s the truth.

If you want to leverage your interpersonal skills, set aside one normal weekday and do these 2 things:

1. Observe your habitual tendencies to listen (or not listen because you’re talking or your attention is elsewhere,)  and
2. Give the gift of attentive listening to others on this day.  Let it be OK not to share your opinion or point of view; not to argue; not to interrupt; not to say “Me, too.”

Dozens of experts agree that listening is one of the most underrated and least practiced conversation skills. (Including me.)

A few days ago we observed the birthday of that great American, Henry David Thoreau.  Here’s what he wrote about being listened to:

“The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when someone asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.”

~  Henry David Thoreau, 1817 – 1862

We’ve also been honoring the 50th anniversary of the classic novel by Harper Lee, “To Kill a Mockingbird.”  Here’s what a character in that powerful book had to say about listening:

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.”

~  (Lawyer Atticus Finch speaking)

Finally, since the conversation doesn’t have to be all about me or you, we can make our priority #1 an attempt to understand the other person.  As Stephen Covey wrote in his modern classic, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,”

“Seek first to understand and then to be understood.”

So, on the day you choose to increase your awareness of and skill in listening,

Make no judgments
Don’t interrupt others
Don’t finish another’s sentences

Then people will feel much safer and more comfortable.

From “Better Conversations” newsletter by Loren Ekroth. Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2011. All Rights reserved. Dr.  Ekroth is creator of information products to improve conversation, such as “Small Talk Success Tips” and a free newsletter at www.ConversationMatters.com.

Coaching Call To Action

For all of you multi-taskers (me included), I challenge you to put everything aside and truly listen when you are in conversation with people this week.  What do you notice?

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Coach Andrea’s Intro

As I think about the upcoming Father’s Day celebration, I’m reminded of the ebb and flow of the intelligence of a parent as seen from the child’s perspective.  When the child is young, the parent is really smart,  and then the teen years hit.  As a parent, our opinion isn’t even worth considering.  Lo and behold, when the “child” hits 20 or so, we get smart again.  Children (and adults) find ways to ignore this wisdom.   This week’s article, Voices of Wisdom, connects me to the wisdom of my Dad (and Mom).  When I ask for their opinion and experience, they are a great source of wisdom. And the sharing that occurs at this level only enhances the relationship.

Quote of the Week

“Treasure your relationships, not your possessions.”
~ Anthony J. D’Angelo

Voices of Wisdom

There’s a proverb that says, “Wisdom shouts from the rooftops.” This is absolutely true, but it’s amazing how we continuously find ways to ignore it.  Wisdom is available to us in many forms and from many places.  One of the primary places to find it is in the people around us, whom we trust and respect.  But it is our responsibility to turn our attention to accessing that wisdom from the voices of people we trust and respect.  We are responsible for inviting their honesty, and if we do we’ll be tapping into an unlimited resource to help us on our journey toward self-discovery.  When we as leaders value honest relationships as a way of life, it has a ripple effect on how it affects others (Saccone, p. 40).

From:  Saccone, S. (2009).  Relational intelligence: how leaders can expand their influence through a new way of being smart.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Reprinted with permission from the OSU Leadership Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, (614) 292-3114, http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu.

Coaching Call to Action

How will you access the wisdom that sourrounds you?  Will you talk to you mentor, your partner, your employees?  What conversations will you have this week that allow the wisdom to flow?  What will you do to be ready to receive it?

What’s New

Sunday, June 20, 2010
Happy Father’s Day, Dads!

Thursday, June 24th – 9 am to 12:15 PM ET
Pounce on a Project V

Come to the last Pounce on a Project V – 2010 before the summer break.

Join Coach Andrea on Thursday, June 24th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Eastern.

We will join as a group by phone and declare what you want to accomplish: tying up loose ends before you head off on vacation, updating your marketing plan, or writing new pages for your website. During the morning, the group will gather by phone a few times to check progress and get any support needed to finish with a bang. At noon, the group will celebrate their accomplishments.

Who says projects have to be boring and tedious? Bring your lightness and fun and join us for the energization.

To sign up or learn more, call or e-mail Andrea by noon on Wednesday, June 23rd. Feel free to share this with friends and co- workers, the more the merrier. (Cost of the program is only the cost of long distance phone calls.)

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Coach Andrea’s Intro

As a business owner, do you value the knowledge held by your employees? Of course!  Do you promote learning from others, the creation of new knowledge, and the transfer of knowledge between workers? Maybe not.  Loren Ekroth reminds us that conversation is the life-blood of the knowledge economy of today.  Conversation skills are key.  Read on to learn more about the impact of better workplace conversations.

Quote of the Week

“Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns.”
~ John Maurice Clarke

Better Workplace Conversations

The ability to create relationships of trust and sharing, so valued in family life, has taken on new importance in the workplace.  As our economy is based more on knowledge, the single most important asset in many organizations is the knowledge worker who has the ability to learn from others, create new knowledge, and transfer that knowledge to co-workers.

In organizations where informal conversation is seen as time-wasting, the rule has been to “Stop talking and get back to work.”   This rule may have been appropriate to the assembly lines of the industrial age, but it is not helpful in the workplace of the information age. The life-blood of the knowledge economy is conversation. Through all kinds of talk in the cafeteria and hallway, in bull-sessions around the water-cooler, phone visits, shop-talk over coffee, knowledge workers are often sharing critical business information.   Perhaps they’ll sketch a new idea on a napkin or ask a challenging question that will change another’s thinking so that a fresh insight comes to mind.

Data and information can be transmitted electronically, but it is nearly impossible to transfer knowledge by technological means alone.  That is because true “working knowledge” contains values, personal experience, expert insight, and emotion.

For one person to actually absorb knowledge coming from another person usually requires direct contact between people — what the military calls “face time.”  Second best can be “voice time” — contact by telephone.  To understand, we often need to get the “feel” of the knowledge as conveyed through all the senses.  Because knowledge is “alive” and has a personal flavor, it needs involvement of the heart and gut as well as the head.  It doesn’t thrive in hard-copy or electronic captivity.

Some time ago I had several serious computer problems.   I dutifully read through the detailed manuals and found some information that seemed relevant.   Then I spent a lot of time trying things — few of which I fully understood — worrying that I might create even worse problems.

Giving up, I came to my senses and hired a knowledgeable computer science student to help me for a few hours, and that made all the difference.  His “felt knowledge” conveyed a quiet confidence, and his simple, well-paced explanations made sense.  I experimented; he gently coached and corrected.  After a short time, I “got it” and was able to manage on my own with much more confidence than any manual could provide.

To share, acquire and even create working knowledge, we need the abilities to establish rapport and create trust, to suspend premature judgment, ask good questions, listen for connections among ideas, and honor diverse perspectives. And, certainly, we need to know when to talk and when to remain silent and receptive.   The new knowledge economy requires such conversational skills so that we can learn from each other.

Leaders in some of America’s most successful companies such as Intel have removed the barriers that used to discourage “learning conversations” and now actively reward employees for sharing knowledge.   They are encouraging “communities of practice,” informal groups where novices can learn from more experienced people.  They make it easy to have access to anyone who has the useful knowledge you need by arranging open spaces and eliminating closed doors.  Other companies are experimenting with new approaches like “Appreciative Inquiry,” an informal process for drawing out knowledge of what has worked best in the past.

Because the greatest portion of the knowledge assets in any organization is not in manuals and data bases but within the minds of its people, and because most knowledge transfer takes place informally, the “soft skills” for effective relating to other human beings will continue to be needed.  With the right skills and attitudes, a CEO can learn from a worker on the assembly line, a General Halftrack can pay attention to a lowly Lt. Fuzz, and left-brained engineers and right-brained customer service folks will be able to learn from one another.

Might a better rule for organizations in this new knowledge economy be:  “Stop working and talk it over”?

Loren Ekroth (c) 2010, all rights reserved. Loren Ekroth, Ph.D. is a specialist in human communication and a national expert on conversation for business and social life. Complimentary newsletter, “Better Conversations,” at www.conversationmatters.com. Contact Loren@conversationmatters.com.

Coaching Call to Action

Where are you, as a business owner, encouraging communication and conversation between your employees?  What else could you do to take communication and knowledge transfer to the next level?  What’s possible for your company if people are truly sharing, talking and communicating with gusto?

What’s New

Thursday, June 24th – 9 am to 12:15 PM ET
Pounce on a Project V

Come to the last Pounce on a Project V – 2010 before the summer break.

Join Coach Andrea on Thursday, June 24th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Eastern.

We will join as a group by phone and declare what you want to accomplish: tying up loose ends before you head off on vacation, updating your marketing plan, or writing new pages for your website. During the morning, the group will gather by phone a few times to check progress and get any support needed to finish with a bang. At noon, the group will celebrate their accomplishments.

Who says projects have to be boring and tedious? Bring your lightness and fun and join us for the energization.

To sign up or learn more, call or e-mail Andrea by noon on Wednesday, June 23rd. Feel free to share this with friends and co- workers, the more the merrier. (Cost of the program is only the cost of long distance phone calls.)

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